Storytime

Once upon a time, my husband emptied the kitchen bin.

That was almost – but not quite – a miracle, because most of the time that task fell to me. Curiously though, once he had taken the bag of rubbish out to the big bin outside, and returned to install a fresh bin liner inside, he looked at me expectantly. Perhaps being a little impressed with himself for his efforts, he formally announced to me that he had just emptied the bin – as though having already been busy in the kitchen myself, I might not have already been aware. He said it as though he thought he had just done something remarkable, and was then looking for, or expecting praise.

I just looked at him.

To be fair, he then looked a bit puzzled himself as to why he’d said it. And although I might have thanked him, I wasn’t about to praise him or pat him on the back for doing what was simply a normal household task, and one that as the adults of the home we were responsible for attending to anyway.

The moral of the story

For believers, I think the moral of the story is that perhaps we shouldn’t be quite so amazed when something happens that is, or should be, just a normal part of life for a believer. If Jesus told us to heal the sick, cast out demons and raise the dead (Matt 10:8), then to my way of thinking, those things are meant to become just a normal part of our duties and responsibilities as a believer. It also suggests that God would have been unjust to have told us to do so if he hadn’t also equipped us with the authority and capacity to do it. So shouldn’t we therefore be unsurprised when that’s exactly what happens?

Can I suggest that if we find ourselves feeling amazed, as though we are surprised by what God has done when we witness a healing or deliverance, that perhaps we need to grow in our understanding. We can (and should) absolutely rejoice with the people receiving those things, but we should be expecting them just as I would have expected my husband to empty the bin if he found it full. I wasn’t going to hang around in the kitchen watching and waiting to be entertained and amazed because my family were doing what they’re meant to. When we understand that part of our responsibility as a believer is to heal the sick, cast out demons and raise the dead, then we should be expecting things to happen, rather than just hoping that they might. When we are expecting God to honour his word, then there should be no surprise when that is exactly what happens.